"The ‘Gallant’ is a dance-rhythm of my own imagination. I gave it a strict form, though, based on the rhythmic permutations and development of 3 + 2 and 8 + 16. So we have the first section with 8 or 16 bars of 3/8, a second section, where the 3/6 alternate with 2/8, and a third (climactic section) where meters of 3/16 are interspersed between 3/8 and 2/8, a device that gives a sudden jolt to the rhythm, which is the reason I called it Asikiko , i.e. dance for Gallant Lads. This rhythm, combined with the modes I have used, takes us straight to the coast of Asia Minor, where Greek civilisation once flourished in lovely Ionia, my mother’s birthplace."

22 songs

Athens & Vrachati, 1984

First performance: Selected songs used for a performance of Büchner’s WOYZECK , Larnaca, 1987